Clint Hurdle led the Pittsburgh Pirates to its first postseason appearance since 1992. / Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sport

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates threatened to end their record streak of losing seasons in each of Clint Hurdle's first two years at the helm, both times reaching the All-Star break with a winning mark only to plummet in the second half.

This time there was no collapse, no bemoaning what went wrong, no same-old, same-old.

The Pirates finally broke through for their first winning season since 1992, riding Hurdle's ever-positive guidance, center fielder Andrew McCutchen's all-around brilliance and a much-improved pitching staff to their first playoff appearance in 21 years.

Hurdle's role in leading the Pirates to a 15-win improvement and a 94-68 record was recognized Tuesday when he was named National League manager of the year in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

In the American League, Terry Francona earned top manager honors after leading the Cleveland Indians to their first postseason appearance since 2007. He narrowly edged out the Boston Red Sox's John Farrell.

The Pirates secured a winning record by early September and challenged the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL Central crown before finishing second, winning a wild-card spot with room to spare.

They beat the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card playoff and took the Cardinals to five games in the Division Series, with Hurdle constantly boosting their confidence.

"I'm a realist, but I am an optimist,'' said Hurdle, who received 25 of 30 first-place votes to easily outpoll the Los Angeles Dodgers' Don Mattingly.

"What those guys perceive is not going to be hokey. I'm going to tell them I believe in them, even when maybe they don't believe it themselves. It's not from a cheerleading aspect. It's not from a Kumbaya, gather-around-the-campfire aspect. It's looking men in the eye, telling them what they're capable of doing.''

Hurdle's impact went beyond buoying his troops. He implemented positioning shifts that resulted in the Pirates ranking fourth in the league in defensive efficiency, and he deemphasized pitch counts among starters so they would focus on going deep into games.

And despite starting the season without a proven closer, then losing surprise All-Star Jason Grilli to an injury, Hurdle got a league-high 55 saves out of his bullpen.

"Your pitching is the largest engine of your club moving forward,'' said Hurdle, whose team reduced its ERA from 3.86 to 3.26. "Good pitching is going to shut down good hitting. Our guys understood that. They were representative of that.''

Francona, who guided the Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships but never finished higher than fourth in voting for AL Manager of the Year, engineered a 24-win improvement in his first season in Cleveland.

The Indians (92-70) closed the season on a 10-game winning streak to earn a wild-card spot before being eliminated in the playoff game by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Cleveland was coming off a fourth-place finish in the AL Central and had not finished with a winning record since 2007, but the club got strong seasons out of All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis and starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez to return to prominence under Francona's steady hand.

The Indians lacked were short on marquee names but not on moxie. With veteran Jason Giambi playing a crucial leadership role, they occupied first or second place in the division for all but one day from May 11 on, then made a huge push at the end, winning 15 of their final 17 games.

"Between the front office, ownership and especially the players, this was one of the funnest years I've ever had,'' Francona said. "And we didn't get to our end goal, but we're getting there.''

Francona edged out Farrell, his former pitching coach in Boston, 112 points to 96, getting 16 of the 30 first-place votes.

After being let go by the Red Sox following the 2011 season, Francona spent a year as an analyst for ESPN and was reenergized by the time off and the challenge of turning around the Indians after they went 68-94 in 2012.

"I love doing what I'm doing with whom I'm doing it with,'' Francona said, "and I get a big kick out of that.''